


Stormseeker: End of Time

by Serriya (Keolah)



Series: Stormseeker Saga: Alternate Timelines [12]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: End of the World, Gen, Gods, Hope, Rebirth, Swearing, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-15
Updated: 2015-10-15
Packaged: 2018-04-26 13:23:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5006404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Keolah/pseuds/Serriya





	Stormseeker: End of Time

My name is Lexen Chelseer, and I stand at the end of time.

Stars died and the Void consumed itself. In the physical realm, there is not enough space for a man to stand, even if he could withstand the destruction of all of reality. But I stand in the Ethereal Plane, atop one single floating stone, as black and purple swirl around me like an unearthly sky. But even that is dying.

"Hello, Lexen," says a voice to my left. I turn to face this... being. Nebulous gleaming light, a thousand blinking eyes, a thousand feathered wings. And yet there is something naggingly familiar about this creature.

"What... Rispy?" I venture.

Laughter emerges like the echo of chimes. "Got it in one."

"Should I ask why you look like that?"

"You went by a thousand names, but your face was always the same," Rispy replies. "My name was always the same, but my face was always different. You are still human, but I bear a thousand faces. This is the form of my ascension."

"Well... I'm pretty confused," I say, shrugging.

"That's okay. We are not the only ones here, in this place and time. Let me see if I can draw them in..."

Rispy flashes, and glows, radiating with the light of a thousand suns. I have to look away from the blinding sight. I can't imagine that anyone left in the universe did not see that.

Another man floats toward us, atop his own small slab of rock. His face, I recognize instantly, and my heart leaps in my chest.

"Tom..." I whisper.

I've encountered countless versions of Tom, killed many of them, fallen in love with many of them, and yet, none of them were the one who knew me. None were the one I bound my soul to, and traveled with across space and time. None were the one who took a piece of my own soul within themselves and shared in my power. None were the one who broke my mind and stole from me my memories, relieving me of their pain, and gifted me with the curse and blessing of forgetfulness.

"Lexen," Tom replies, his lips twitching in what might be a faint smile. "It has been a long time..."

"That's a funny thing to say, at the end of the universe," I comment.

"I've deliberately been avoiding entering any timelines that you were in," Tom says. "As much as it pained me to do so."

It's him. It has to be him.

"Why?" I asked.

"I was afraid that I would wind up being bound to you again," Tom says. "That my fate and future would depend upon you. And yet... Here, at the end of all things, that seems a foolish concern. Everything was destined to come to this point regardless of our actions."

"I looked for you, Tom," I say quietly. "I searched timeline after timeline, and with every failure my heart broke a little more. And I always wanted to ask you what you did, and how to fix it. I don't even know how many lives I've forgotten, but I don't even need to wonder if I lived many, many times the lifespan of the universe."

Tom raises an eyebrow. "You ask what, and not why?"

I let out a heavy sigh. "I know why. By all the gods and demons, I know why. You made me forget so that I would not destroy myself. And I forgot, again and again, until-- until-- I reached a point where I was able to break that loop. But-- it was like being tortured over and over until something snapped. All I remember are nightmares. And I wish I could remember. Because it stands to reason that there must have been good times there as well. But only the nightmares remain."

Tom casts his eyes into the dying Abyss. "I'm sorry."

"And I stayed with him the entire time," Rispy says quietly in a flute-like trill. "Even if he didn't realize it sometimes."

"Maybe I went about things in entirely the wrong way," Tom says with a sigh himself.

"If it's a mistake of galactic proportions, then so be it," I say. "Maybe it's not something that most people would ever thing could be mended with a simple apology. But you know? Most people are dead. We're the ones standing here now, as the universe dies around us."

"Well, hi!" says another voice. A little elven boy with eyes like stars, not even bothering with a rock to stand on, just floating in the Void in front of us.

"Shazmar..." I say.

"So, this is how the world ends?" Shazmar says. "Not with a bang, but with whinging, moping, and melodrama?"

"Pretty much, yeah," Rispy says. "I haven't felt like interrupting them. Let them get it out of their systems."

I snicker softly. "So, I'm guessing that you don't need to keep the universe from being infected with whatever-it-was stupid shit anymore."

Shazmar nods. "That mess was my own fault, I know. Like a cancer in the midst of the universe. I couldn't make it go away. So I contained it as best as I could. Anyway, it's done now. And... I think I'm done here. The end of the universe is a good time to retire, right? Maybe next time, I'll roll a fighter. Tata!" He vanishes in a puff of logic.

I stare at the spot where he was, and mutter, "I'm going to pretend that I know what that means."

"Lexen..." says a woman's voice behind me. "Lexen!"

I turn to the latest arrival. Wavy dark hair frames a pale face, robed in a white gown whipping about despite there being no wind. "Cassie? Is it really you? How?"

She grins brightly, and floats up to give me a tight hug. "Seek me in eternity," she replies.

"W--What?" I stammer.

A light-hearted giggle. "Did you really think I would have ever quietly accepted death?"

"What about all those things you said?" Tom asks. "Eternity was not your heart's desire, you said."

"There's more to life than eternity," Cassie says enigmatically. "I'm sorry that it had to be that way. But I wanted you to be able to move on without worrying about what would happen to me. I wasn't even sure if it would work."

Tom stares at her incredulously. "Cassie. What did you _do_?"

"I became more powerful than you could possibly imagine."

"What." Tom stares at her.

"I had decades to study Lexen's Time Magic, you know," Cassie says. "I'm a Ravenclaw, remember?"

Yet another new voice pipes in with, "Hey, guys, am I late to the party?"

"Gellert?" Tom says, jaw dropping as he looks over at the latest arrival. "What the fuck are you even doing here?"

"What a long strange trip it's been, eh?" Gellert says. "We all found our own ways here, to the end of the universe. Funny, that. Destiny has its way of bringing us back together again."

"If by 'destiny' you mean the fact that the universe was destined to eventually end, then yes, I'd imagine you could say that," I say dryly.

"How in the hell did you get here, Gellert?" Tom wonders.

"Um," Gellert says, waving a hand. "Some bullshit about phoenixes. Don't ask."

"What." Tom stares some more.

"Have I mentioned lately that you are all insane?" Rispy says, twinkling and fluttering his wings in amusement.

"So says the glowing ball of bodyparts," Tom says.

"How did it all ever come done to us five?" I say quietly. "I remember... I remember us. Not clearly. No details. No events. But I remember the people."

"Tom, I could've told you that was a stupid idea in the first place," Gellert says.

I shake my head. "It's far too late for that. Tom, all I want to know at this point is, can you undo it? Can you let me remember everything I've forgotten?"

Tom sighs and shakes his head apologetically. "I'm afraid not. I didn't erase your memories. You did that yourself. All I did was enable you to easily Obliviate yourself by your own will. And when you chose to accept all that happened as it was, that contingency spell was canceled."

My heart sinks. All this time, I had been hoping to find a way to remember everything. Lifetimes worth of experiences and memories, gone as if they had never been. It doesn't seem right, somehow. That all that happened, and all I have left of it are scraps and whispers. And that is all I will ever have.

"So, this is it, I guess." I look off at the walls of oblivion, pressing in around us. Even the Ethereal Plane is collapsing now. "Do we go back, and do it all again? Make new memories? Experience new things?"

"We don't have to go back," Cassie says.

"What is there to look forward to?" I wonder. "The universe is about to end. It's over."

"This universe," Gellert says with a smile and a strange look in his eyes. "Only this universe."

"There isn't anyone else here," I say. "Birthing a new universe seems to come down to us?" I look at them incredulously, and look around. "I didn't expect that this was where everything was heading. Maybe it was inevitable. But I don't believe in destiny. I don't believe in inevitability. There is no fate but what we make. And yet, every timeline has converged to this point."

"And this end does not have to be our fate," Rispy says. "The gods of the old universe have left this to us."

"The real question is, are we prepared for this?" Tom asks.

"It's the end of the world as we know it," Gellert says. "And I feel fine."

I take a deep breath. "We have to be. I am not worthy. But no one else will do it. And this time... we will do it right."

"We're with you, Lexen," Cassie says. "Let's do it."

Behind me lies the weight of every soul that ever lived. Every star that ever shone, every world, every river, ocean, tree, and mountain. Every fluttering dragonfly, every soaring dragon. Every lion, snake, badger, and eagle. Every life, unjudged by their contributions to society, by whatever they may have created or destroyed. It doesn't matter anymore. All that matters is that they lived.

Every hope and every regret. Every dream and every failure. Every life and every death.

Power flows through me, and my form crackles with energy. And through it, for the first time, I realize what a bullshit prophecy I once heard so very long ago really meant.

I bear the hope of a thousand worlds.

I raise my hands and cry out, my voice echoing through the dying universe.

"Through time and eternity, toward the limit of infinity, I GIVE YOU **FREEDOM**."

Blue lightning erupts from my fingertips, spreading like a branching tree, timelines, choices, hope without end. The universe crackles and sparks. There is no doom and no destiny. No fate but what we make ourselves.

Rispy's wings spread, and eyes widen. With a voice like a symphony, he sings.

"Through honor and duty, with the weight of a universe, I GIVE YOU **TRUTH**."

Power swirls around the blinking lightning, holding it steady and strong, bringing endurance to the faltering light. No cancer will threaten this universe. No one will bring about the death of time itself.

Cassie looks toward me and gives a smile, lifts her head and arms and intones her own words.

"Through light and divinity, with compassion and love, I GIVE YOU **FAITH**."

Radiance envelopes the vision before me, embracing it and cradling it like a caring mother. Light and power can heal all wounds. Even if branches are damaged, the universe will heal.

Tom gazes up toward the vision above us, and raises his voice in a powerful chant.

"Through space and shadows, out of Oblivion, out of the Void, I GIVE YOU **HOPE**."

The branching lightning extends out of my sight, if sight it can be called at this point. The universe stretches on without end. Perhaps there is no end. Perhaps this time, perhaps this time, there will truly be hope. The universe will not be doomed to die.

Gellert grins wildly and spreads his hands, almost mad, almost laughing.

"Through spirit and flames, through passion and fire, I GIVE YOU **LIFE**."

Flames erupt around us. I can feel their head, but it does not burn us. I'm not even entirely sure if we were truly alive at this point, anyway, or something else entirely. But now we stand in the midst of an inferno. The old universe dies in a blaze of fire. Consumed into ashes. Dying into the Void.

And then there was light--

The universe we had dreamed of expands before us. Galaxies, stars, worlds. People. Shining souls, countless beings, smiling, laughing, crying, raging. Living.

"It really worked..." I breathe. Well, I'm not sure that breathing is quite the right word. We're still in the Ethereal Plane. I don't think we even have physical bodies at the moment. But that's alright.

"So, are we the gods of this new universe, then?" Tom asks.

I shake my head. "I'm sorry. I don't want to be a god. I don't want to rule over anything or be worshipped by anyone."

"So what are we here for, then?" Gellert wonders.

"Maybe not gods," Rispy says. "Caretakers. Watchers. Guardians. The universe doesn't need gods. Worlds don't need lords. People don't need masters."

"Well, if we're going to be the Guardians of the Galaxy, I get to be the tree-man," Gellert says. "Rispy has to be the raccoon."

"I feel like I missed a joke somewhere," I say flatly.

Tom chuckles softly. "I think... I can live with this."

"So, shall we see what this new universe has in store for us?" I say. "To live again?"

"We can go anywhere and do anything," Tom says. "We're not bound by space or time."

" _Omnia semper sunt quae umquam sunt. Omnia sunt quae possunt esse. Omnia possibilia sunt. Ergo omnia sunt,_ " Cassie says quietly. "Everything always is that ever is. Everything is that can be. Everything is possible. Therefore, everything is."

"But, this is a new universe," I say. "Different things will happen than happened in the old."

Cassie shakes her head. "Do you see here? The universe isn't fixed to a handful of timelines. Everyone has choices, not merely those who are unbound by time."

My eyes widen as I look across the flowing, spreading universe, not merely the branching of a tree, not merely the forking of lightning, but unbroken possibility. I see things that are strange and new, and things that are tantalizingly familiar, and things that I know very well indeed.

I say incredulously, "Everything that happened can happen again? Everything that was can be again? Everyone that lived can live again?"

I realize what happened. When I put forth energy into this new creation, I drew upon the souls of everyone who has ever lived. I brought forth the hope of a thousand worlds. And I let them be reborn and be everything that they could have been. In blazing fire, like a phoenix.

"Aren't you more interested in what new things might exist?" Tom asks.

I grin at him. "At some point, sure. There's all the time in the universe, after all. I was always in such a rush before. To change things, to save people, to hop to another place, another time. And only in the end was I able to use the Nexus to its fullest extent, and at that point, things weren't the same and I had different goals, and except for Rispy, I was always alone. In a way, I never really had a chance to live. There were friends I would like to see again, places I never really had a chance to experience. Even in the worlds we've been to, even in the bits and pieces I can still remember, I feel like there were many possibilities yet that I wish I could have seen. And all those memories... I would like to make them all again. Things I've already done, walking down the same path? Perhaps. But you know what? It's alright. It's a place to start. It's a dream to live. And this time, I will not forget. I will not agonize over things I could not change. I will not drive myself mad over anything that happens."

"None of us are going to die now, you know," Cassie says. "We don't need to strive for knowledge and power above all other things. Now... yes. Now we can live."

"Live," Gellert says with a grin. "Mr. Time-Travel-Is-Not-A-Toy. Life is the most wonderful game. Let's play it."


End file.
